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A figure appeared in the distance, and Taly waited just long enough for him to get a good look at her before turning, dropping a time crystal and hastily kicking some dirt over it before approaching the Water Maze.

Winding ribbons of white stone slithered across a wide, reflecting pool, but instead of following the path or giving the command to move the stones to the side, she tugged on her magic and watched as the pathways collapsed into dust. She’d never been able to execute that spell, but now—

Her aether responded to her so easily.

It was an entity unto its own. A fiery maelstrom howling through her veins, snarling and snapping and thirsting for blood. Something had been taken from her—fromthem. Something precious. Something dear.

Now!it demanded.

“Soon,” she soothed, stepping onto the surface of the pool. Beneath her, the water that used to gently gurgle between the snaking pathways hardened, each molecule as stiff and immovable as though it had been turned to ice.

Bells tinkled on the wind.

“You did fine,” she said to the fairy that zipped past, little more than a ribbon of light. “It was more than enough time.”

The fairy chirped a reply.

Taly shook her head. “Don’t bother. While I’m not sure what the Queen has suddenly decided is more important than a fucking shadow mage intent on kidnapping me” —she stepped over a pile of dust still hovering on the surface of the water— “if you see her, make sure she stays out of the way. This is my kill.”

Taly was halfway to the hedge maze at the center of the pool when the fairies gave another chime. She glanced over her shoulder, checked her Sight, and when Vaughn stepped behind a copse of trees, momentarily obscuring his line of sight, she turned, looked, and thenphased.

Only a moment later, she neatly stepped onto the platform of the hedge maze, at least a hundred yards away from where she had been less than a second ago.

She wasn’t supposed to know that spell. It was seal five, at least—a more advanced version of the enchantment the Queen had ordered her to learn:celerity.

Celerity could give a time mage the appearance of speed, allowing them to accelerate their body and its movements. But it also came with the problem of needing to adjust for the added momentum when the enchantment ran out. Shadow mages could toughen their bodies to cope with the physical strain that came with moving faster than the eye could track, but time mages… well, Taly had quickly discovered that she didn’t have the coordination to exit the spell without breaking an arm or a leg, sometimes both.

But if shephased—looked ahead and gave her timeline a yank—she didn’t have to worry about the problem of momentum. She just stepped and phased and stepped and phased—as easy as walking down the street. Even the Queen had been reluctantly impressed that she’d managed to learn it.

Her aether gave another flare, coating her skin like a veil as she dropped another time crystal, hiding it beneath one of the hedges. Then, throwing a glance at the shadow mage that wasnow wading into the pool, she disappeared inside the maze.

Walls of blue ivy arched up and over as Vaughn stooped, picking up yet another time crystal. As expected, the spell attached to the small stone was crude and easily broken, and he slipped it into his pocket before moving forward through the maze.

The girl had left him several more traps to collect, each one poorly concealed. It was a valiant effort on her part, and to his surprise, some of the spells even managed to detonate before he’d finished digging them up. The leaves would start to shiver as time distorted, and the vines would attempt to crawl off their trellises and obscure the path. But the magic was weak—so adorably undeveloped—and all she had done was leave him a trail to follow. Each crystal had a tether, rapidly fraying but bright as a dying star to those that knew how to look.

Which he did, though even without the crystals, it wasn’t hard to guess where she had run. Not as he circled closer and closer, finally emerging into the labyrinth’s heart.

The center of the maze was nothing more than a wide circle of white stone flanked by marble benches and fountains that swirled and eddied, defying gravity and its laws. Vaughn took a cautious step out of the shade of the hedges, lettinghis aether fan out across the area, searching for any more of those piss-poor excuses for traps. When he found none, he straightened, turning his attention to the girl kneeling in the center of the circle.

Something that might have been pity tightened his chest. She looked as though she had been hollowed out, as if something vital had been drained away. Even the bright Highborn gray of her eyes seemed muted as she stared at him, making no move to run or fight as he continued his approach.

She thinks the boy is dead.

Good. He could use that to his advantage. Perhaps, if he made a show of giving him some sort of antidote or helped her “revive” him using her own powers, she’d come willingly.

His master wanted her willing.

“You killed him,” she whispered listlessly. The wind whipped at her hair, freeing a few wild strands from her coil of braids. “Why did you have to kill him?”

“All may not be lost, little mage,” Vaughn cooed gently. His eyes darted around the clearing, and he took slow, cautious steps. She hadphasedin the throne room, and even though he doubted she had the technical ability to replicate the spell, he wasn’t going to risk losing her again. “Young Skylen made the mistake of fighting back. He took out two of my mages in cold blood, and then he pointed his sword at me. What else was I to do?”

The girl tilted her head. “Why did you have to kill him?” she repeated. “Why am I still here when he isn’t?”

“He might not be gone.” Vaughn was halfway to the center now. “There might still be some hope.Time mages have the power to revive the dead. I could show you how.”

Her eyes widened slightly, then dropped. She stared at her hands, as though she could find the answer there. After a moment, she shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

Something pricked against his neck, like an insect bite, but he ignored it. “Come with me, Taly. Come willingly, and my master may even allow you to see your family. He may show them mercy.”